The Other Realm
by afitwilight
Summary: The team investigates the death of man in a club. Nick and Sara make a bet.


It was a chilly night at one of Vegas's clubs. Of course that didn't stop people from going in and having a good time. The dance floor of The Other Realm was crowded. People danced with couples and alone. Flaw's song Payback was blaring through the speakers. A guy in his early twenties came in. He looked around the area as if he was searching for someone in particular. He began to walk onto the dance floor. Soon he spotted a young girl, and began dancing with her. No communication was made. It was like they had their own language. The lights in the Realm suddenly flashed and then the whole place became pitch black. The dancers soon began to panic and started to push each other. The darkness lasted around thirty seconds and the lights came back on. There in the middle of the room lay the guy, who had just walked in, dead on the floor. The last words of the Flaw song filled the room. "You're dead now".  
  
Grissom and the rest of the team where called out there to process the scene. No one who had been in the room was allowed to leave the building until they had been questioned. The team looked around the room. The lights were still flashing overhead causing Grissom's head hurt. "Someone, please see about having those lights shut off."  
Catherine was the closet to him. She knew about how serious his headaches could get so she agreed to go. Grissom nodded his thanks and watched her go. He, then, focused on the rest of his team. "Nick, Sara, I want you two to take pictures and check the area around the victim. Warrick I need you to help me question the witnesses." They split up and began what looked to be a long night.  
  
Grissom was beginning to feel like he was on another planet. Everyone seemed to have green, or blue, or purple hair, tattoos, and body piercing everywhere. The girl he was questioning was no different. She had jet-black hair, with red streaks dyed down the sides. "What's your name?" he asked her.  
"Jayden."  
"Is that your real name?"  
"No, but it's what I go by. My real name is none of your concern."  
"I'm investigating a possible homicide. Everyone and everything here is my concern." Grissom responded as a matter-of-factly.  
Jayden glared at him and started to walk off, but he grabbed her arm. "We're not done here. Where were you at when the lights went off."  
"I was dancing over there by the D.J."  
"Did you know the victim?"  
"No. I've never seen him in here before."  
"Do you come here a lot?"   
"Yes. I come here about every night when I get off from work." She glared at him with annoyance. "Can I go now? I think I've answered enough of your questions."  
Grissom nodded and let her pass. He didn't think she would be of any more help. He glanced over to Warrick. Warrick was busy talking to a guy with green hair and a nail through his nose. "Young people" he thought and decided to see if he could find the manager.  
  
The dance floor was now completely empty. Nick and Sara were busy taking pictures and looking for anything that would give them a hint as to what happened. "What do you think happened here?" Nick asked as he bent down to take another picture of the body. Sara glanced over from the other side of the body. "I really don't know. I don't see an entry wound from a gunshot." Right when Nick finished his last picture the E.M.T.'s took the body. "Hopefully Warrick or Grissom talked to someone who knows what happened." Sara said.   
Nick shook his head. "It was dark, I'm betting you couldn't see two feet in front of you in here with the lights out."  
"Well, that makes our job harder."  
"Yeah, I'm done here, you wanna go see if Grissom or Warrick needs any help?"  
"Nah, go ahead. I'm gonna see if I can find something around here. You never know."  
"Good luck." Nick said and then he headed for Warrick.  
  
Catherine was busy talking to the manager when Grissom walked up. The manager shook Grissom's hand. "I'm still stunned. Never in my years of business, has anything like this happened before."  
Catherine sighed. "I'm sure you have had your fair share of fights in here though."  
"Of course, but it is a club and people do tend to fight. Especially when they are drunk."  
Grissom then asked the manager if he knew the victim.  
"No. I've never seen him in here before. He came in and began to dance with a girl in the middle of the dance floor. Then the lights died. When they came up, well you know the rest."  
"Do you know the girl he was dancing with?" Grissom asked.  
"Sure do. She's a regular here. Her real name is Rebecca but everyone calls her Becca."  
"Do you know where she is now?"  
"I'm assuming she went home after she was questioned."  
"I didn't question her. Maybe Warrick did. Thank you for your help."  
"Anytime."  
Grissom and Catherine walked away and headed for Warrick and Nick. Warrick acknowledged them. "Everyone I've talked to has never meet the victim, and none of them saw or heard anything." Grissom was expecting that. He looked to Nick. "Did you or Sara find anything?"  
"Sara is still looking, but the body didn't show anything that suggests the cause of death."  
"I guess our good Doc will have to determine that for us. Warrick did you happen to speak with a girl named Becca?"   
Warrick flipped through his notes. "Nope. Sorry."  
Grissom turned to look at Catherine. "She must have left before we could talk to her. Go and ask the manager for her address. I'm going back to see what the doc says. Warrick go with Catherine."  
Nick watched them leave. "What about me?"  
"Help Sara, search outside maybe the clue we need is out there."  
Nick and Grissom headed off in opposite directions.   
  
In the morgue, Doc. Robbins was beginning his exam on the victim. Grissom walked in. "Find anything yet?" Robbins shook his head. "The body was just brought in, so it will be awhile before I find anything."  
Grissom nodded his head. "Okay, give me a call when you find out something." He walked out and called Catherine.  
"Willows"  
"Hey, it's me. Did you get the address of the girl?"  
"Yeah, Warrick and I are heading over there now."  
"Good, and while you're there find out how she managed to slip out without being noticed."  
"Will do. Bye."  
Grissom hung up the phone and headed for his office.   
  
Catherine and Warrick arrived at Becca's house. The house was average, but it was in a nice neighborhood. They got out of the car and went and knocked on the door. A woman in her late thirties or early forties opened the door. "May I help you?"  
Catherine addressed her. "Hi, we are with the Las Vegas Crime Lab, is there a Rebecca Grier here?"  
"Yes, she's my daughter."  
"We need to speak to her. A man died at the club she was at tonight and we need to see if she knows anything about him."  
"Are you accusing my daughter of murder?"  
Warrick stepped up beside Catherine. "No, we just want to ask her if she saw anything strange."  
"Oh, okay. Why don't you both come in? Rebecca is in her room, I'll go get her."  
They both thanked her and went inside. They sat on the couch while Mrs. Grier went to go get her daughter. A few minutes later, Becca came down the stairs. She was about 5 feet 7 inches. She had blonde hair with pink streaks through it.   
"Rebecca Grier?" Warrick asked.   
"Yeah, that's me."  
"Hi, my name is Warrick Brown, this is Catherine Willows. We're with the LV Crime Lab. We wanted to ask you some questions about the guy you were dancing with."  
"Oh, you mean Vincent."  
"Was that his name?"  
"Yeah, we used to go to school together. Until he dropped out."  
"How old are you?"  
"18"  
Catherine gave her a quick glance. "You don't look like it. You look like maybe your 16."  
"Yeah, I get told that a lot."  
"How old was Vincent?" asked Warrick.  
"21."  
"What can you tell us about what happened tonight?"  
"I was dancing and then Vince walked in and he didn't say anything he just started dancing with me. He looked a little out of it. Then the lights went off. I got scared and left."  
"So, you were gone when the lights came back on." Catherine responded.  
"Yeah, I didn't like being in there with it so dark."  
"How did you find your way out?" asked Warrick.  
"I felt my way out. I go there a lot so it wasn't that hard."  
"Did you know that you left a crime scene?" Warrick again.  
"What do you mean?"  
Catherine walked up beside her. "When the lights came back on, your friend Vincent was found dead on the dance floor."  
Tears started to form in Becca's eyes. She turned her back to them. She didn't want them to see her cry. "What happened?"  
Warrick handed her a tissue. "We don't know yet. That's one reason we came here. We wanted to see if you had heard or seen anything strange."  
Becca turned back to face them. "No, I didn't. Like I said as soon as the power went off, I was heading out the door."  
Catherine placed her hand on the girl's shoulder. "Thanks for your time. We're very sorry about the loss of your friend." With that spoken she and Warrick headed outside toward the car.   
  
Outside the Other Realm, Nick was busy searching around the perimeter. He walked over to the dumpster. Carefully looking in, he held his nose. The smell was enough to make you lose your lunch. A glimmer caught his attention. He bent down and picked up the object. It was a used syringe. He bagged it and decided to show his find to Sara. Inside Sara was kneeling down. She had a very lost look on her face. "Find anything?" Nick asked as he approached her. Sara got up and shook her no. Nick gave her a grin, "Well, I found this." He held the bagged syringe up for her to see.  
Sara shook her head. "A needle, come on Nick. This is a club, I'm sure you will find a ton of those out there."  
"Maybe, but this is the only one I found. Besides I have this feeling it might be connected to all of this."  
"How do you know? Did you get some kind of sixth sense?"  
"I just do, in fact I willing to bet you dinner that this is connected."  
"Wow, you must really be confident. Dinner huh."  
"Yep, and I'm not talking cheap dinner either. A very classy dinner, so are you in?"  
"Okay, but we better decide now where we are going to eat. You know so neither one of us can back out."   
Nick gave her his cutest grin. "Now Sara, why do you think I would back out on this? I'm going to win. You're the one who might try to back out. Okay here's the deal, if somehow I was wrong, I will take you to the Olive Garden. If I'm right, you're taking me to the Outback. Deal?"  
Sara smiled back and took Nick's hand and shook it. "Deal."  
Nick let go of Sara's hand. "You done here?"  
"Yeah. I guess we should go back and let Greg test that."  
"Patience Sara. You'll get to take me out soon."  
Sara laughed at him and they headed out toward Nick's car. "Dream on Nick."  
  
Grissom was sitting in his office when his phone rang. He picked up the phone. Doc. Robbins was on the other end. "Hey Grissom, I have the cause of death for you." Grissom told him he would be down in a minute. As he hung up the phone, Catherine and Warrick walked into his office. "Hey, did you two find out anything?" Grissom asked. Catherine explained everything to him. "I believe her story." She said.  
"I'm fixing to go down to the morgue, the good doc has figured out the cause of death." Grissom said.   
"What do you want us to do?" Warrick asked.   
"I really don't know. Let me find out what the doc says. Maybe Nick and Sara will have something when they come in."  
Grissom headed down to the morgue, leaving Catherine and Warrick standing there wondering where to go next.  
  
In the morgue, Robbins was just finishing his report when Grissom walked in. "What did you find?"  
"Well, I can tell you what killed him. The toxicology report came back positive. The guy died of an overdose."  
"I guess that rules out murder."  
"Not necessarily. When a person does drugs, he usually inhales the drug or uses needles."  
Grissom shook his head. "I know all this, what are you getting at?"  
Robbins pointed to the body. "Look at the arm, do you see any needle marks?"  
Grissom took a closer look at the body. The arms looked clean. No sign of needle marks anywhere. The guy was clean. "Okay so he inhaled the drug."  
"No, he didn't. With cocaine users the nasal cavity becomes hollow. That's not the case here either. I took a closer look and on his back I found a small injection mark."  
"So our guy was murdered after all. Good job."  
Robbins stopped Grissom before he could walk off. "I don't think he was murdered inside the club."  
"State your reason."  
"Time. The drugs need time to get into the blood stream and shut down the body. There was no way this could be done in just thirty seconds."  
Grissom nodded his head and thanked Robbins. He then headed back to the lab. He needed to get his team together.  
  
By the time he arrived back, his team was in the break room. Sara, Nick, and Warrick were sitting down drinking sodas. Catherine was on the phone checking on Lindsey. She told Lindsey good-bye when she saw Grissom's look. "What did Robbins find out?" asked Catherine.   
"That our victim was murdered."  
"How?" asked Warrick.  
"Drug overdose."  
Nick gave Sara a triumphant smile. "I found a syringe outside the club. I sent it to Greg to have it tested."  
Grissom smiled at him. "Good job Nick. I guess we will wait and see if Greg comes up with anything. In the meantime, I want to see if this guy Vincent had any enemies."  
Grissom glanced over at Warrick. "Did anyone you talk know Vincent?"  
"If they did, they lied to me. Everyone told me they never seen him before."  
"Yeah, that's what I was told to. The only person who knew him was Rebecca. Catherine I want you and Warrick to go back and talk to her. Find out everything we need to know about Vincent. Nick, Sara, I want you two to help Greg. Once he finds out what was in that syringe, I want you two to find out where you can get it and who sells it."  
Break time was officially over, they all threw away there drinks and headed out.   
  
Catherine and Warrick arrived back at the Grier house. They walked up to the door, but before they could knock Mrs. Grier opened the door. "Hello again, what can I do for you?"  
Catherine smiled at her. "We need to ask your daughter a few more questions about Vincent."  
"She's not in trouble is she?  
Warrick shook his head no. "She's the only person we know of that knew him. We only want to ask if he had any enemies."  
Mrs. Grier let them in and went upstairs to get her daughter. Becca came down the stairs and greeted them.   
"Hi Becca, we're sorry to bother you again, but we really need your help." Catherine said.  
Becca smiled at her. "Sure, no problem. I'll do anything to help out."  
Warrick looked at her. "Do you know if Vincent had any enemies?"   
"A lot of people didn't like him. In school, he was teased a lot. A lot of the students made fun of him."  
"Why was that?"  
"Vincent was a loner. He never really hung out with anyone. He stayed to himself. I've known him since elementary school."  
Catherine then asked. "You said Vincent was 21, and you are 18. So the two of you are three years apart. How did you know him?  
"He was held back a couple of years because he had a learning problem. Actually, that's really not true. Vincent was smart, but he had to learn things at his own pace. So it took a few more years to get the hang of everything."  
"Is that why the other kids made fun of him?" replied Warrick.  
"Yes. I was the only one who he felt comfortable with. I never made fun of him, because I had a hard time with work too. Besides Vince was really nice, he wouldn't hurt anyone."  
Catherine glanced from Warrick back to Becca. "Could you tell us some names of people you think would want to hurt Vincent?"  
"I know a few people who threatened him in high school. That's why he dropped out. They told him that when he least expected it, that they would get him."  
"I'd like to have their names if that's okay."  
"Sure, I can even tell you where they work."  
Warrick smiled at her. "Thanks Becca, you've been a real help."  
Becca gave them the names of the boys and the address where they worked.  
Catherine wrote all the info down and thanked Becca for her time. She and Warrick then headed out to talk to the boys.  
  
Back in the lab, Greg was just getting in the results of the syringe. Nick and Sara walked in. Greg looked up at them. "Good timing guys, the results are printing now."  
The results printed out and Greg gave them a quick look and handed the paper over to Nick. "Looks like a mixture of drugs were in here." Nick said.  
"Yeah, a mixture of coke, acid, and heroin. Not a healthy mix at there." Greg said.  
Nick thanked him. Sara glanced over at Greg. "Did you happen to pull any prints from the syringe?"   
"Yeah, I did. I thought I would wait and give them to you."  
Sara went over and took the sample of prints. She then looked at Nick. "I'm gonna run these and see if I can find a match."  
Nick shook his head. "Yeah, if you find one we will be one step closer to catching this guy. In the meantime, I'm gonna do a search and see if I can find some hot spots. Maybe I will find out if this drug mixture was homemade or already bought like that."  
Greg wished them both luck as they walked out of the lab.  
  
Grissom was in his office. Nick came in and filled him with the new info. "Good job, keep me posted." The phone rang and Grissom answered it. "Grissom...yeah...okay I will be right there." He hung up and glanced over at Nick. "Becca gave Catherine a list of people who weren't exactly friendly to our victim. I'm going to go help her. If you find anything call me." Nick said he would and walked out.  
  
Cosmic Palace was a store in downtown Vegas. Inside was about every teenagers and young adults dream. On one side of the store there was a laser tag arena. Beside it was the video game area. Every system was hooked up to different monitors. Plus they had the regular video game arcade. On the other side was the comic book section. Then you had a room in which people got together to play Magic or Dungeons and Dragons. Working there was a dream come true. Eric Cane had worked here every since he was fifteen years old. The place was crowded as usual but that didn't stop him from noticing the three people walking in. Usually the Palace only attracted young people, so he had no idea why there were there. The older man walked up to him. "Excuse me, are you Eric Cane?"  
"Yeah, that's me."  
"My name is Gil Grissom. I'm with the Las Vegas Crime Lab. I need to ask you a few questions."  
"Sure."  
"Mr. Cane, did you know a guy by the name of Vincent Newby?"  
"Yeah, he went to school with me, why?"  
"What was your relationship to him? Were the two of you friends?"  
"No, we weren't. In fact, I really didn't like him that much. Me and my buddies used to threaten to beat him up if he came near us."  
His honesty got Catherine's attention. "When was the last time you talked to him?"  
"Um, I would say about a month ago. He sometimes would come in and buy some comic books."  
"Were you mean to him then?" Catherine asked.  
"No, I can't be mean while I'm working. It's bad for business, besides Vincent used to buy a lot of comics here. So I kinda backed off."  
"So, you haven't spoken to him or seen him in a month?" Replied Grissom.  
"I said I haven't talked to him in about a month but I saw him last week."  
"Where?"  
"At the mall. My friends and I were hanging out and we saw him."  
Warrick, who had remained silent through all this, spoke up. "Would your friends happen to be Damon Miller and Wesley Clark?"  
"Yeah. We've been best friends since grade school. Why are you asking me about them?"  
Warrick answered. "Vincent Newby was found dead at a club late last night. The girl who was dancing with him gave us your names. She told us that you didn't get along with him."  
"I'm not following. How does that have anything to do with me?"  
"Vincent Newby was murdered."  
Shock filled Eric's face and he sat down.  
Grissom noticed his shock. "Do you have any idea how this might have happened?"  
Eric started rocking back and forth and began mumbling to himself. "I thought they were just playing around."  
"What do you mean Eric?"  
"We were at the mall when...." Flashback.   
  
Eric, Damon, and Wesley were sitting at one of the tables at the food court. "No way, Neve is a lot hotter than Denise." Damon was saying. They continued their argument until they saw Vincent walk by.  
Wesley smiled at the others. "Look here boys, they finally let freaks come to the mall."  
The others laughed at his joke. Vincent glared at Wesley. "I guess that's why you all are in here."  
With that Wesley jumped up and grabbed Vincent by the shirt. "Look freak, I can come in here anytime I feel like it. You on the other hand, should be put in a dark room where no one can see you."  
Damon pushed Wesley off of Vincent. "Hey man, leave him alone. We don't want to get banned from here."  
Vincent tried to walk off but Damon stopped him. "Wait, I'm not done with you. Just cause I stopped him from breaking your face doesn't mean you're getting off easy."  
"Come guys, I haven't done anything to any of you. Just leave me alone."  
Damon laughed. "You were born, that's enough for me."  
Vincent did something that none of them would ever thought he would do. He turned and grabbed the hot coffee sitting on the table beside him and threw it in Damon's face.  
Damon yelled as loud as he could. Wesley turned around to face Vincent when Vincent's fist slammed right into his face. Wesley went down hard. Vincent then turned around and headed into the crowded mall. Before he could get out hearing range he heard Damon yell "I'm gonna kill you Newby!!!!!"  
Damon wiped the coffee of his face and sat back down at the table. He looked from Wesley to Eric. "He's dead meat. Next time I see him, I'll kill him."  
Wesley gave him a high five and said. "Yeah, death to the freak." End Flashback.  
  
Grissom looked at Eric. "So you basically stayed quiet the entire time your friends were arguing with him."  
Eric continued his rocking. "Yeah, I don't like Newby. I wanted to beat him up then but I didn't want to get kicked out of the mall either."  
Warrick didn't think that Eric was telling the entire truth. "So, you're telling me that your buddies let you sit by while they were getting beat up?"  
"Hey man, I wanted to go after Vincent. Just cause Damon and Wesley called him a bunch of names didn't give Vincent the right to do what he did."  
Catherine spoke up. "It sounded to me like he was defending himself. I think I would have done the same thing."  
Eric stopped rocking. "Look here's the deal. I didn't kill Vincent. I didn't know he was dead until you just told me. You can arrest me for harassment but that's it. I can't speak for the others though."  
Grissom gave him a nod. "Okay, but we might need to talk with you again. Will you be here?"  
"Yeah, I work a lot. I need the money."  
Grissom told him good-bye and he, Catherine, and Warrick headed off to speak with Damon Miller.  
  
Damon Miller was lying in his bed when he heard someone knock on his apartment door. He got up and answered it. He was surprised to see the three strangers at his door.  
"Sorry, I don't give to charity drives and no I don't want anything your selling."  
Grissom grinned at him. "You don't even know what we're selling. We might have just the thing you're looking for."  
Damon laughed. "Yeah right. What are you doing here anyway?"  
Grissom introduced them and told Damon that they needed to ask him some questions.  
"What kind of questions?"  
"We hear you and Vincent Newby didn't get along very well."  
"That's the biggest understatement of the year. I hated the guy."  
Catherine didn't mean to really but she couldn't resist. "Did you hate him enough to kill him?"  
"Yeah, that freak made me mad sometimes that I really wanted to break his neck."  
Grissom took that in. "Did you happen to know that Vincent was in fact murdered?"  
"No. You mean someone finally killed that freak. All I can say is that it's about time."  
Warrick gave him a look. "Where were you at last night around 11:30 p.m.?  
"At a party with some friends."  
Grissom watched Damon's eyes. Grissom had once said that the eyes are the window to the soul. Maybe if he stared hard enough into them he could tell if Damon was lying or not. "Where was this party at?"  
"At my friend Alice's. Her parents are out of town for the weekend so she invited a bunch of us over."  
"I see. Did Wesley Clark happen to go to the party with you?"  
"Yeah, he did. How do you know about Wesley?"  
"Your names were mentioned by someone who said you both didn't like Vincent."  
"That's no secret there. Everyone knows that we didn't like Vincent. Have you talked to Wesley?"  
"No, but we have talked to your friend Eric."  
Damon gave Grissom a disgusted look. "Eric and I aren't friends anymore."  
"Why is that?" Catherine asked.  
"Cause friends are supposed to stick together and stand up for you, but Eric didn't. He got scared and backed down. He was always a wimp."  
Warrick asked him if that had anything to do with the incident at the mall.  
"Yeah, he just stood there while Wesley and I took the heat from Vincent. A true friend wouldn't have let that happen."  
"Eric said that you threatened to kill Vincent. Is that true?"  
"You bet it is. Look, I wish I could say that I murdered the guy. I don't care if I would spend the rest of my life in prison. The fact is that I didn't."  
Grissom wasn't sure if Damon really didn't kill Vincent. He could have done it and used this argument to try and cover it up. But Grissom really didn't know. "Okay Damon, we are going to talk to Wesley and then maybe talk to Alice. Could you tell us where Alice lives?"  
"Yeah sure, let me write down her address for you." Damon wrote it down and handed it to Grissom. Grissom thanked him and he began to head back to the car. Before he got in Damon yelled to him. "When you find Vincent's killer, could you bring him by here? I want to shake his hand."  
Grissom didn't respond back. He got into the car with the others and drove off.  
  
Wesley had the worst job in the world in his opinion. He was the trash guy for a company. The workers got on his nerves. They all thought they were so classy. "Yeah right" thought Wesley. One of these days he would be on the top and these losers would be looking up to him. He was taking the garbage out to the dumpster when two men and a woman walked up to him. "Great" he thought. "More high class snotty people." The older guy was the one to speak first.  
"Are you Wesley Clark?"  
"You know my name. What's yours?"  
Grissom introduced himself. "We need to ask you some questions."  
"Okay, but whatever it is I didn't do it."  
"Do you remember Vincent Newby?"  
"How could I forget that freak? Did he bring you here? Look, I know we threatened to kill him, but come on that's just the way I deal with stuff. I just talk big. I don't actually kill people."  
"Really. That's interesting because the reason why we're here is because Vincent is dead."  
"NO WAY"  
"Yes, he was murdered last night at a club."  
"That's too bad." Wesley began to snicker.   
Grissom glared at him. "You find this amusing?"  
"Well, yeah. I mean I can't believe someone finally killed him off."  
Catherine shook her head in disgust. "You do realize you are talking about another human being don't you?"  
Wesley looked at her. "Look honey, I don't think you realize that Vincent was a far cry from a human being. He wasn't normal."  
"Define 'normal'"   
"He wasn't like anyone else. He was just too spacey. He would read those comics of his and he became all space cadet on people."  
"Does that give him a death sentence?"  
"In my book yeah."  
Grissom decided that he's had enough with young boys for one day. He felt like he was getting no where fast. He decided that he would let the others talk to Alice. He was beginning to get a headache. They told Wesley they would call him if they needed to ask him some more questions.  
While they were walking back to the car, Warrick glared at Grissom. "Why are we leaving? Don't you have more questions for him?"  
"He will just answer them like Damon did. I'm thinking that either one of them killed him and are playing dumb, or they really didn't kill him and we have an unknown murderer on our hands."  
"Are we going to question Alice?" Catherine asked.  
"You and Warrick are. I'm going back and see if Nick and Sara have come up with anything. Just drop me off."  
"Okay." They then headed back for the crime lab.  
  
Back at the crime lab, Sara was busy running the prints through the computer. So far there hadn't been any matches to the fingerprint found on the syringe. She wasn't sure if they would find one either. Not everyone had their fingerprints on file. She was beginning believe that's what the case was here. She decided to call Nick and see if he was having more luck than she was. The phone rang twice and Nick picked up. "Stokes."  
"Hey it's me. Having any luck?"  
"Actually, I'm just now finding some hot spots."  
"I'm not having any luck finding a match to the print."  
"The prints must not be on file."  
"Wait, I just had an idea, but it's going to take a lot longer than I want to sit here."  
"What's your idea?"  
"I'm going to go through birth certificate files and see if I can match the prints that way."  
"You do realize that that's going to take a very long time. Do you realize how many people live in Vegas?"  
He heard Sara sigh on the other end and his heart went out to her. "Yeah, I know Nicky, but what choice do I have?"  
"None I guess, good luck Sara. I have to go I'm about to see about some drugs."  
"Bye" She hung up and began a very long process.  
  
Meanwhile Nick got out of his car. He headed toward the drug dealers hangout. A black man twice the size of Nick was sitting in a chair. He had a ton of gold around his neck and hands. The black guy watched as Nick approached. He hadn't seen Nick before and wasn't sure what Nick was there for.  
"Can I help you?" the black guy asked.  
Nick knew he had to play it smooth. He didn't want to blow his cover. He didn't know how many guys this man had guarding him. Nick decided he didn't want to find out either. "Yeah, I'm looking for a certain drug mixture. I'm not sure if it's sold already mixed or if you have to do it yourself."  
The black man smiled. "What kind do you want to know about?"  
"Coke, acid, and heroin."  
"Man, that's some expensive drugs you've chosen there. You can in fact buy them already mixed. Saves time you know if you do it that way."  
"Can I ask another question?"  
"Sure."  
"I want this to be really good and strong. Which would be more powerful?"  
"Here's the deal man, you buy the pre-mixed and you can't decide how much of what you want. Sometimes that's a good thing. It's easier because you won't run the risk of an overdose. If you do your own mixing though, you control how much of what you want, but the overdose risk is higher."  
Nick took all that in. "Have you sold either the pre-mixed or the three drugs lately?"  
"Yep, I just sold some two days ago to this one guy. He wanted them separate. He said he was making his own drug."  
"Wow, sounds good. Do you remember what this guy looked like?"  
"Yep, he's a regular actually. I don't know his name though. See, we don't use a first name basis here. It's for safety. Keeps the cops off our backs."  
Nick shook his head and thought, "Yeah, that's working well." Out loud Nick said. "Could you give me a description of him?"  
The man told Nick a general idea and Nick thanked him. He then began to head back to his car.  
"Hey you wanna sample of the drug mixture you asked for? Free of charge."   
Nick decided that it couldn't hurt. He went and took the drug packet from the man and thanked him again. "I might be back and buy some if I like it."  
Nick then got in his car and headed back for the lab.  
  
Catherine and Warrick arrived at Alice's home. There weren't any cars in the driveway but they decided to see if she was there. They knocked on the door and waited. No answer. They tried again. And again there was no answer. They decided to check back later and headed for the car when the door opened. Alice walked outside. She was very tall for her age at least 6'2". She had black hair and blue eyes. She called out to them. "Can help you?"  
Catherine turned around and headed back toward her. "Yes, my name is Catherine Willows and this is Warrick Brown. We need to ask you a few questions if that's okay."  
"Sure, may I ask what's this about?"  
"Did you have a party last night?"  
"Yeah, my parents are out of town and I wanted to invite some friends over."  
"How long did your party last?"  
"It got started around eight but the last person left around two in the morning."  
"Was Eric Cane, Damon Miller, and Wesley Clark at your party?"  
"Damon and Wesley were there, but Eric wasn't. He isn't friends with Damon and Wesley anymore."  
Warrick then asked her, "Do you know why?"  
"Something about Eric betraying them. I really don't know the whole story. Damon really never mentioned to me the real reason."  
"What about Wesley? Are the two of you close?" asked Catherine.  
"I only know Wesley through Damon. We don't talk to each other unless Damon is around."  
"Did you go to school with them?"  
"No, I went to a private school. My parents didn't want me to go to a public school, something about the lack of safety or whatever."  
"How did you meet Damon?"  
"I met him at the mall. We share the same interest in music and we sorta hooked up."  
"Are you two dating?"  
"No, we never really did date. We just hung around with each other and kept the other company."  
Warrick then replied. "Do you know who Vincent Newby is?"  
"I've heard of him, but I've never met him. Damon's mentioned him before. He said that Vincent was some kind of freak. But I don't know if that's true."  
"Vincent was murdered last night and we are trying to find some leads to help us figure out who did it. How long did Damon and Wesley stay?"   
"Wesley stayed until around midnight and Damon left around one."  
"Are you sure?" asked Catherine.  
"Pretty sure. I kept looking at my watch a lot last night. Wondering when everyone was going to leave."  
"Must have been a boring party then." Replied Warrick.  
"Yep, it wasn't one of my best that's for sure."  
"At anytime during the party did Damon or Wesley leave and then come back?"  
"No, they pretty much hung around here and chatted with other people."  
Catherine figured that was all they needed to know so she and Warrick thanked Alice for her help and headed back to the lab.  
  
Grissom was heading for his office when he saw Sara searching through a computer. He decided to find out if she's learned anything. He walked in and noticed that she looked very bored. "Everything okay in here?"  
His voice shook Sara out of her trance. She glanced over at Grissom. "The fingerprint found on the syringe wasn't in our database. I'm having to run birth certificate prints."  
"That's going to take a while. Anyway you think of to narrow down your search?"  
Before she could answer Nick came in. "Hey Sara, I have a feeling the person you're looking for is a guy. The man who I talked to gave me a description of a guy who bought the same drugs two days ago."  
Nick then updated Grissom and Sara on what the man had told him. He handed the plastic bag with drugs in them over to Grissom. "You might want to give these to the proper authorities."  
Grissom took them and stared at them thinking. "You know, it amazes me how easy it is to buy these things and how hard it is to get your medicine prescription filled."  
Nick laughed. "Yeah, but now you can buy prescription drugs on the black market."  
Grissom looked at him. "You better not be."  
"Hey, I just heard about it. Besides I don't need them."  
Grissom smiled. "Lucky you." And then he left Nick and Sara.  
Nick turned his attention back to Sara. "You want to go with me and see if we can find a face to maybe go with those prints?"  
Sara smiled at him. "Yeah, why not. I think we'll find a face a lot faster than we will a print."  
She got up and walked out with Nick.   
  
Nick was able to get a forensic art specialist to help identify the unknown man. Once all the info was loaded onto the computer a man's face appeared. Nick took a good look at him. "Well, I think we've found our match."  
Sara turned to leave. "I'm gonna put that name in and see if it matches the print. I'll call you."  
Nick watched her leave and he had the picture printed out. Now all he had to do was find Grissom and show him. While he was walking out, he bumped into Warrick and Catherine. "Hey guys, how's it going?"  
Catherine looked at him. "I'm grateful I only have daughter and that she isn't a teenager yet."  
Warrick laughed. "Yeah, well don't worry you will soon have your hands full."  
They all exchanged info and Nick showed them the photo.  
Warrick and Catherine both recognized the man. "Wait, we know him. That's Eric Cane." Catherine said. She turned to Warrick and he shook his head in agreement.   
"I guess we better go tell Grissom." Warrick replied.  
On the way, Nick's phone rang. He answered and listened for a moment then responded. "Good job. Meet us in Grissom's office." He then hung up and the three of them made their way to see Grissom.  
  
Grissom wasn't really surprised to see all four of his CSIs come in at the same time. He knew that usually when that happens they've found something. So he immediately asked them what they found.  
Catherine answered. "We think there's more to Eric Cane than what he's telling us."  
Nick added. "He fit the description of the man and his fingerprints matched the syringe."  
Grissom smiled. "Good, get Brass to get a warrant. I want to search his house and his work place. I also want him brought back for further questioning."  
Grissom knew this case was finally coming to a close. He felt for sure that they just found their murder.  
  
Eric was working when two people walked in. One he recognized the other he didn't.  
Catherine walked up to him. "Eric, we have a warrant to check your store and your home. We also need you to come down with us to answer some more questions."  
Eric was shocked. "I don't get this. What's going on?"  
"You will understand more if you come with us."  
Eric saw two more people walk in. Warrick and Sara had field kits in their hands and were busy searching around the area.  
Brass walked up to Eric. "Sir, if you will come with us."  
Eric had no choice but to follow.  
  
Warrick and Sara combed through the entire store. They came up with nothing. Warrick decided to see if Nick had found anything back at Eric's home. Nick answered the phone. "Nope, I haven't seen anything. No needles, no drugs, there's not even an aspirin in the house."  
"That's weird."  
"Yeah, I know. You find anything on your end?"  
"Nope, and we've looked everywhere."  
"Well, I'm heading back. I guess I will see you both there."  
"Yeah man, later."  
Warrick hung up the phone and glanced over to Sara. "No go. I guess we're done here. Let's head back and see how the interrogation is going."  
  
Eric wasn't sure what was going on. He was sitting in a room with no windows and he didn't like the trapped feeling he had. Grissom sat across from him and noticed how uncomfortable Eric looked. He really would like to say he felt sorry for him, but he couldn't. In fact, Grissom didn't feel anything at for the guy who sat before him.  
"Where were you last night around 11:30?"  
"At a party."  
"Whose party?"  
"My friend Alice."  
"According to Alice, you didn't show up. So I'm asking you again where were you last night?"  
Eric began to feel defeated. "Okay, okay. I was selling some stash."  
Grissom paused for a minute before he continued. "What did you sell and who did you sell it to?"  
"I buy drugs from this place. Then I take them and sell them for twice the amount I paid for."  
"Whom did you sell them to?"  
"Teenagers from different schools."  
"Okay, so you sold drugs last night. Where did you sell them at?"  
"In an alley close to work."  
"Eric do you do drugs yourself?"  
"No, I'm allergic to most drugs. Mainly aspirin."  
Grissom took in that fact and informed Eric about finding his fingerprints on the syringe.  
"I don't know how that got there."  
"Why don't you let me tell you what I think happened? Damon and Wesley got mad at you because you refused to help them at the mall. They stopped being your friends and you couldn't take it. So you felt that you had to get revenge on Vincent. Wanna fill me in on the rest?"   
Eric took a deep breath. "Okay, you're right. I did want revenge. I mean that freak took my best friends away. I couldn't let him live with that. So I made a special drug just for Vincent. I saw him earlier that night and I went and talked to him." Flashback  
  
Vincent was heading for a club when he heard a voice calling out his name. He turned around and saw Eric standing in the alley. "What do you want Eric?"  
"It's all your fault man. Damon and Wes won't even look at me."  
"Can I help it if you wussed out? You know you're such a coward."  
"I'm not either. You are gonna pay."  
"Right, without your back up your nothing but a shell of existence. Why don't you back to your little hole you call life and leave mine alone."  
Eric couldn't stand it anymore. He watched as Vincent turned around and went the other way. Eric made his move. He jabbed the syringe in Vincent's back and slammed down on the plunge. The drugs shot into Vincent's body. Vincent turned to him and pushed him away. "You're toast Cane. I'm going to go tell everyone about your drug operation."  
Eric was stunned. He didn't know how Vincent knew about that but if he wanted to continue his business he had to make sure Vincent didn't say anything. He watched as Vincent staggered into the club. End Flashback  
  
Grissom stared at him. "So why did you kill the power?"  
"I was afraid he would tell Rebecca, so I killed the lights. Rebecca has a major phobia of the dark."  
Grissom got up. "Well, you don't have to worry about her finding out anymore. You're out of business Eric. Looks like the only light you will be seeing is the light from a jail cell."  
Grissom began to walk out when he heard Eric say. "I only did it to win my friends back. I wanted things to be like they were before."  
Grissom looked at him. "Well, things for you will never be like they were." He then walked out, while two officers came in and arrested Eric.  
  
In the locker room, Warrick, Sara, and Nick were getting their stuff together to leave. Catherine had already gone home to see Lindsey. Warrick had his stuff ready and told Nick and Sara bye. They watched Warrick leave. Nick turned to Sara. "So when are you going to pick me up for dinner?" he asked.  
Sara smiled at him. "What dinner?" She asked innocently.  
Nick laughed. "Good one Sara. I told you I would win."  
Sara grabbed her coat and turned to face him. "Okay you did win. I admit it. As for dinner, how about Friday night?"  
"Sounds good."  
"Around seven?"  
"Yep." He grinned at her and watched her as she began to leave. He called out to her. "Hey Sara."  
She stopped and turned to face him. "Yeah?"  
"Wait, I'll walk out with you."  
"Okay." She and Nick both headed for their cars. Once they got there Nick walked with her to her car.   
"Sara, don't be late on Friday."  
"I won't. I'll see you later Nick."  
"Bye." Nick watched Sara get in her car and leave. He then walked to his car and thought about how good his steak dinner was going to be.  
  
The End 


End file.
